Best 9 to 10 Inch Tablets

The 7th generation of the Apple iPad is the best 10 inch tablet and the cheapest iPad Apple makes – which makes it perhaps the best choice for a tablet for most people. Some of the internal components are a bit older than on the larger iPad Air and Pro models, however they perform just fine for the vast majority of tasks. That large 10.2-inch screen is solid and the battery life is decent at 10 hours.

One main improvement on this generation of iPad is the Smart Connector which supports the Smart Keyboard, however you must purchase that separately. Another improvement is the iPadOS operating system which greatly improves productivity. Buyers should also be aware that the cheapest version has 32 GB of internal storage which is not enough for most people, so you might need to pay more for the upgraded 128 GB storage.

It is also available at Bestbuy.com.

It’s tough to beat the Amazon Fire HD 10 in terms of value with a price of just $150, or even less when on sale like on Black Friday. The internal components and overall performance are not as good as the iPad or the Galaxy Tab S3, but it is significantly cheaper.

The Fire HD 10 comes with a sharp 1920 x 1200 screen. Combined with a long battery life of around 12 hours and you get a great media consuming machine to watch all of your Amazon content.

On the downside the Fire OS means no Google Play store apps and the cameras are quite poor.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 9.7 is our pick for the best 10 inch Android tablet. It is the thinnest and lightest 10 inch tablet and sells for about $478. The Galaxy Tab S3 has a simply stunning HDR capable AMOLED screen, a capable S Pen stylus, and pretty good quad speakers. Watching videos on this slate is simply a pure joy. It also has good battery life with up to 12 hours of use.

The Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite is an outstanding Android 10 inch tablet that rates below the Galaxy Tab S3 in terms of components and performance, but has a price tag that is almost $200 less. A solid screen, 11 hour battery life, and the included M-Pen lite Stylus are all positives.

Its not perfect, but overall the Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite is a solid mid-range 10 inch tablet.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab Active Pro 10.1 is the most expensive tablet on this list, but for a very specific reason – it is built to survive extreme conditions. It is MIL-STD-810G compliant and IP68 certified to be dust/water/shock resistant. The Active Pro 10.1 also has impressive internal components and a super long battery life of up to 15 hours that make for a very satisfying user experience.

If survivability is your top priority in a tablet then the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active Pro 10.1 is for you. The expensive price, however, knocks it down a few points in our rating.

The Microsoft Surface Go represents Microsoft’s version of a 10-inch Windows 10 2-in-1 convertible tablet / mini-laptop. With a starting price of $399 this is pretty good budget 2-in-1, in fact it would be hard to find a Windows 10 laptop that performs this well for cheaper.

The performance of the Microsoft Surface Go is decent enough, although far from outstanding, while the screen has less pixels-per-inch than most of the devices on this list. The battery life is not very good at under 9 hours on average, with one test coming in at 6 hours of mixed use.

Overall if you are looking for a 10-inch Windows 10 device then the Surface Go is a great choice. Buyers should be aware the keyboard is sold separately. If you are just a casual user who doesn’t need a Windows 10 device for productivity, then there are better, cheaper options available.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 is a solid entry-level tablet with a very affordable price. The 1920 x 1200 screen is good enough for crisp text and images. The battery life is also quite good, with some tests lasting longer than the claimed 10 hours.

While the internal components are not as good as some more expensive models, in benchmark testing the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 performed noticeably better than the Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite and Lenovo Tab P10. Some other slight negatives include just 2 GB of RAM, two speakers are both located on same side, and no ambient light sensor.

Overall we think the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 provides a great value and would recommend it to almost all buyers, except for those who will push the limits of performance by gaming or other memory hungry apps.

It is also available at Bestbuy.com.

The Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro packs a lot of great features into a 10-inch device that costs about $335. Maybe the most impressive feature is the long battery life of up to 15 hours. The performance is also plenty fast with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage.

This Yoga’s most interesting feature, however, is the pico projector built into the cylindrical spine. The projector won’t wow you, but is still an excellent addition that you don’t find on any other tablets. The screen also is quite bright and sharp at 10.1 inches and 302 ppi. One downside is that it is a bit heavier than other models at 1.47 pounds, while the cylindrical spine makes it much thicker as well.

The Lenovo Smart Tab P10 is a solid Android tablet that turns into an Alexa-powered smart display similar to Amazon’s Echo Show when placed into the included speaker dock. It was a finalist for Best of CES in the home category. The components and performance are mid-tier that handle most tasks well, but can struggle with gaming or switching between several apps.

The real highlight of the Smart Tab P10 is when you place it in the smart dock, and it serves as an Amazon Echo Show. A Bluetooth button connects you to the speaker and you get all the usual Alexa skills – you can use it to control your smart home devices, it displays the time and weather, stream from Prime Video, ask for recipes, or ask questions.

As just a tablet, it is underwhelming for the price you pay. However, with the added smart dock, the Lenovo Smart Tab P10 can double as a smart home device and for that we think it is worthy of the price.

Surprisingly vivid display, strong battery life, and a USB Type C port are all highlights on the $199.99 Lenovo Tab 4 10 Plus. This 10.1-inch Android tablet comes with just 16 GB of storage in the cheapest configuration, but you can pay more for the 64 GB version.

While the general performance is okay, on the downside, the graphics performance is below average.

The Huawei MediaPad T5 is a very good entry-level tablet with surprisingly good hardware other than poor cameras.

The Lenovo Tab M10 HD is a budget 10-inch tablet that can handle basic tasks, but not CPU intensive apps. The battery life is less than average at just 8.5 hours of runtime and the cameras are really poor. With a resolution of 1280 x 800 the screen is adequate, but far from great.

There is also a Smart version of the Tab M10 HD which turns it into a smart home device just like the Smart Tab P10.

Overall the Lenovo Tab M10 HD is a decent budget tablet, however there are better models in this price range like the Amazon Fire HD 10 or Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1.

The Lenovo Tab 4 10 is an older Lenovo tablet that probably will be phased out soon. With a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 and 149 ppi, the display leaves us wanting more. The performance is passable, but below average – especially in terms of 3D graphics.

On the plus side the battery life is quite good for this price at about 10.5 hours on average.

If you want a cheap 10-inch Android tablet then you should consider the Lenovo Tab 4 10, however there are better models that are in the same price range as this one like the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1.

The Asus Chromebook Tablet CT100 is a bit of a mixed bag. We really want to like this thing due to a beautiful 2048 x 1536 display with 264 ppi and rugged build that can surpass the MIL-STD-810G durability standards. The performance with 4 GB of RAM is quite good too overall.

However the Chrome Operating System is not quite ready for primetime yet. Some apps can be buggy and just frustrating to use. Having said that if you have used any device with the Chrome OS and like the way it works, then we would highly recommend this tablet.

The cheapest 10-inch tablet to make our list is the Lenovo Tab E10. Unfortunately it is cheap for a reason – it uses cheap internal components that make the overall performance really suffer. It can work fine for just basic web browsing, checking email, and maybe light gaming, but we wouldn’t recommend it for doing much more than that. The battery life is also the poorest on this list with a runtime of just 7 hours.